Child education demands innovative and stimulating approaches to enhance their understanding of the world around them. In fact, enabling children to explore and interact with the surrounding environment is key to developing their skills and building a strong knowledge base.

In this context, Dr. Iskender Gelir from the College of Education has conducted a research project to investigate how children learn the date growth and irrigation and relevant scientific concepts through field trips.

The project followed a methodology of visual ethnography, whereby data were collected through observation of the participating children from the university’s Child Care Centre and video recordings. A checklist was used to assess their knowledge after the field trips to the botanical garden, in addition to inviting an expert from the College of Science to provide technical information about palm trees, other plants and the irrigation system.

Three main results emerged from the project: The first is that children were able to learn how the dates grow and what they need for that. This is an important finding as it contributed to enhancing their cultural awareness of the important cultural elements in the Sultanate of Oman. The second result underlined the role of teachers in supporting children to learn scientific processing skills, such as classification and prediction. They played a crucial role in guiding children and providing them with essential information, using stimulating and interactive techniques. The third result highlighted the importance of self-discovery for learning science in early years, which help develop research skills through learning.

The research project recommended that an educational environment be created to encourage outdoor learning and field trips for children. Teachers may find a suitable time to take children out for such activities to enrich their learning experience and enable them to interact with and learn more about their natural environment.